Force For Good: Birth & Life of Shakyamuni Buddha – Ep. 62

April 15, 2016 Robert Thurman

In this podcast Professor Thurman gives a brilliant compelling account of Buddha’s birth and path to Enlightenment. The account is enriched by his wide-ranging scholarship and familiarity with so many different sources of Buddha Shakyamuni’s life story.

This episode is an excerpt from the lecture given at Tibet House US in New York City, January 6, 2016, as part of a course called “Force for Good: Buddhist Sources and Practices Beyond Religion.”

‘A Force For Good’ is a Tibet House US course to further the Dalai Lama’s contemporary world initiatives, from His Holiness’ American Institute of Buddhist Studies and Mind and Life science dialogues (Universe in a Single Atom) and His creation of Abhidharma 2.0 through the “Science for Monks” programs, his “secular ethics” (Ethics for the New Millennium and Beyond Religion), His nonviolent approach to conflict resolution, including His Nobel Peace Laureate activities to seek dialogue and a win-win reconciliation with China in the face of the ongoing ethnicidal policies in Tibet (Freedom in Exile and Man of Peace: The Illustrated Life Story) & along with his emphasis on positive activism (A New Reality: Charter of Universal Responsibility).

A vibrant, accessible introduction to the heart of Tibetan Buddhism through its own rich literature from "the most visible and charismatic exponent of Tibetan Buddhism" (Roger Kamenetz, New York Times Magazine).Expertly and lucidly surveying the basic …